When Travel Goes Wrong – Antigua 2023 and the State of Summer Travel

When you travel enough things are bound to go wrong from time to time. We have been stranded in New Mexico due to Hurricane Harvey for a week, we spent several days in Phoenix due to the winter freeze in Texas, we have had flights canceled around the country when we had to wait until the next day to make it home and most recently we were stranded for an extra night in The Isle of Man due to fog that covered the island canceling our flight. So we are used to things going wrong from time to time. It doesn’t make it any less stressful when you can’t make it home or to your destination. Just recently we went to the small island nation of Antigua and Barbuda for a quick weekend trip. The island is wonderful with friendly people, beautiful beaches and a rich history. We had a wonderful time in Antigua but we didn’t know the mess that was to come afterwards. We had the wildest travel experience that we have had trying to get home that ultimately took us through 5 different airport in 3 different countries, a US territory and two different states.

Heading Back to New York from Antigua

On the last day of our trip on Sunday we spent time in the morning taking a relaxing swim in the clear blue waters at our hotel. We spent time relaxing and trying to de-stress from being sick with an ear infection and other things before we headed on our trip. All looked well for our flight when I checked it but I could see that there were building thunderstorms in New York after they had suffered from flooding rain in the past weeks. Our great transfer service picked us up right on time and we headed to the airport to get on our flight. The small but nice V. C. Bird International airport was fairly busy with people heading on the international flights that afternoon. The airport is not too large with only 10 gates or so and has a couple restaurants and a decent amount of seating areas. We got there around 1030am and got checked in and ready to go. Then I started tracking what was going on in New York. I use a couple different apps such as FlightRadar24 and FlightAware to see what is going on so I can be prepared. I saw flights were leaving New York JFK but there was a lot of strong storms and delays.

Our flight left the gate so I thought we were in good shape but it ended up sitting on the tarmac for several hours taxing. It went back to the gate for more fuel and then went out for several hours of taxing again. All during this time at the airport they were letting us know that the flight is delayed. After quite a few hours they gave us a food voucher and I started planning for what we should do and what options we have if what I hoped would not happen happened. I found that there were not flights available to anywhere in the US until Thursday at the very earliest. Antigua is a small island that only has a couple flights a day to the island from the US. There are flights to London on British Airways and flights to surrounding islands. I noticed a British Airways flight to Aruba that would have many more flight options and an InterCaribbean flight that could get us to San Juan, Puerto Rico. After a long stressful wait our flight was finally canceled. I was working to try to get on the British Airways flight but the plane had broken down and the flight to Aruba was also canceled. The American flight out was also canceled so there was no way off the Island.

The only option was to either wait until the end of the week to get home or book the last couple seats on the InterCaribbean flight to San Juan with a change of planes in the British Virgin Islands. I went ahead and booked the InterCaribbean Airlines flight and we then followed the directions of the JetBlue staff that were scrambling with a lot of people to see what to do with.

Stranded in Paradise

When we went to the gate we had gone through exit customs and officially left the country. The JetBlue staff took us down to the arrivals area to get our bags and pass through customs. From there we had no idea what we would do. They said they were working on hotel rooms but many hotels were full and multiple large flights had been canceled. While things were tough and stressful I did what I could to help some of the passengers such as an older couple who was trying to get in touch with Sandals to go stay there another night. I went outside to find a Sandal’s representative and helped them along their way. We waited for a long time wondering what we would do when they found us a room in English Harbour on the South side of the Island. The taxi driver took a small group of us down to The Admiral’s Inn at the UNESCO World Heritage Site Nelson’s Dockyards. Our drive was interesting with one couple being very drunk from the hours at the airport. The Admiral’s Inn is a beautiful hotel built into the buildings that were once at 1700s era British Naval Base and shipyard that was commanded by Lord Horatio Nelson at one point. Summer time is off season in the Caribbean so the hotel was not expecting to have a full house that night and didn’t have their normal number of staff. While we waited for our room assignment we went to the restaurant that had a great view of the dockyards and the staff was wonderful and caring. We watched as the lit up blue water teamed with fish feeding in the water. After a great meal our room was ready but we had to wait to get to it due to storms coming through caused by a tropical wave (this isn’t the last time storms will cause us problems hence my hatred of thunderstorms). We were the last people to get in our room since we had been patient with the staff. That wasn’t a bad thing as we got put up in the Joiner’s Loft building that was built in 1778 where shipbuilders lived and worked. We walked into the room and found it had a separate living room with couches and chairs that overlooked the bay and a beautiful bedroom and bathroom. Much of the night though was spent working with JetBlue, Southwest and Hilton to cancel flights and hotels and book new ones for our adventure home. I also worked with the local transfer service to get us back to the airport the next day. They stayed up late waiting for when they needed to pick me up. Well after midnight and after around 8 hours in the airport we went to sleep not knowing what would happen the next day.

Leaving Antigua

After a nice sleep at a beautiful hotel that was for sure a silver lining in the mess we were in, we spent a bit of time walking the quiet and historic dockyard and taking in sites like a palm tree Queen Elizabeth II planted many years ago. We checked out and thanked the owner for his hospitality and got picked up on time from the hotel. We had a great conversation with the drive about his country and the politics of countries such as China paying for the airport and their nice Cricket Stadium. At the airport we checked in and had a nice conversation with a man heading home to the British Virgin Islands. We were able to use our food voucher to get breakfast since in the chaos of the day before we didn’t have time to get food. We had never flown InterCaribbean so we didn’t know what to expect. I did know they fly EMB-120 aircraft which are no longer manufactured and have been around since the 80s-90s. We walked out to the small plane that fits around 20 people and the plane inside was normal for a small plane but you could tell the plane had been around for over 30 years. We took off and headed over many of the Caribbean Islands on the way to Beef Island in the British Virgin Islands confident that our troubles were over and we would get home soon.

Trouble in the British Virgin Islands

We landed with no issue at Beef Island that is near the main island of Tortola. We headed off the plane and through security waiting for our next flight. We were in good spirits knowing we had one more hop before we got to an airport well connected to the mainland US. I noticed while sitting in the very small airport a plane unloading and frustrated people coming back. I was hearing them mention the airport was closed but with sunny weather I thought it was the airport they were flying too. As time began to pass and nothing was going on at the airport I got concerned. I then found out that our airport had been shutdown temporarily and no flights were going out. So the stress returned now wondering if we were stranded in the BVI. I started again looking for options to get to the US Virgin Islands by ferry, I learned from talked to people that the airport was closed due to the firefighters walking out forcing the airport to be closed. They were working to boat in firefighters from other islands in the BVI but it would take a long time. Flights on American Airlines and others got diverted to other airports with the closure. They announced everyone needs to leave the departures area which I thought was odd since we had not passed through customs but we followed the instructions and found some seats in the un-airconditioned and very hot check in area. As we waited I heard my name being called and they told me we needed to go back through security and wait since we had not cleared customs. We complied and I was happy since the departures area at least had a little air conditioning. We then waited for hours in the somewhat heat and we had a small coffee shop for a snack to go to. We started talking to some of the other passengers who were also trying to get back to the US from canceled flights in Antigua. We were all shocked that we were stranded again with very little information from the airline or airport officials. After 5 or 6 hours we started to see activity at the airport and were hopeful it had opened up. I asked around and it had opened up but our airline had no information. They finally started boarding the first flight to San Juan carrying people who had been trying several days to get back to the US so we felt a little better about our situation. We were told once the plane gets back we would be next but there were no guarantees our flight would happen being late in the day. A flight to the Dominican Republic then got canceled so we got concerned. A little while later a InterCaribbean employee called Donna’s name and let us know our flight had been canceled, but thankfully they booked us on the next flight out anyway. Our plane arrived and us and the other nervous and eager passengers nearly ran out to the plane. We had all talked about that we wouldn’t be calm until the wheels came up on the plane as we took off. That happened a few minutes later after we taxied by the firefighters from the other islands watching us leave.

A Short Stay in San Juan, Puerto Rico

After the short 30 minute flight to San Juan we arrived and started to feel better about things. When we arrived there was no gate but that is normal for small planes. What was odd is they walked us through the baggage area under the airport for the baggage crews and to a back door emergency exit to get into the airport. Fellow passengers felt it was pretty odd. At that point we said goodbye and good luck to the other tired passengers trying to get home and we worked to help a few other people make connections. We easily got through the nearly empty passport control and headed to our hotel. Another silver lining moment was at our hotel was a local Puerto Rican restaurant that served a dish we really enjoy in Puerto Rico called Mofongo. Its a mashed plantain served with a sauce and some kind of meat on top. We love it and we got Chicken Creole. Another odd but sadly normal for Puerto Rico thing that happened to us was the power went out in the middle of dinner. The hotel has a generator so power came back on but it added to odd things happening on the trip. After a few hours of sleep due to the delays we got ready for our 6am flight to Orlando.

When we got to the airport a pop up thunderstorm hit just in time to get us wet as we headed into the airport and it went away once we got in the building. Our flight was on time and we made it into Orlando with no issue.

Crazy Day and More Thunderstorms in Orlando

We had a nearly 12 hour layover in Orlando so we checked to see if there was a day use hotel available at the airport Hyatt. If you are not aware some airport hotels will rent you a room for your layover. The price was $169 for a few hours so we passed and stayed in the very nice terminal. I got onto my work computer and then an odd guy sat near us. I got onto a work meeting and the guy wearing a construction vest started yelling at someone on his phone and making threats. A odd thing to hear while on a work meeting. He then started blaring rap music and rapping himself. I have no issue with rap music and like some myself but its a bit difficult to concentrate with all that. A TSA lady then sat near him and he started flirting with her. He was telling her he was a straight up gangster and that he had been in the airport for 4 days waiting for his girlfriend to come that didn’t know he was there. He flew in from “The A” (Atlanta) he claimed. After she wished him luck and left he went back to rapping. At that point we decided to move since we couldn’t take much more of the drama. We found new seats in a calmer area. After a couple hours I suddenly heard loud rapping again and looked up and he had moved to a seat closer to us again. Thankfully he kept moving on but we saw him again flirting with ladies and wandering around.

After all of that drama I started tracking our flight that would pick us up to go home. That plane was coming from Nashville and I checked the weather and you might guess the forecast was for severe thunderstorms. Our plane should have had time to get out before the storms hit but it was delayed in New York for you might guess it more thunderstorms. Right as our plane was supposed to get out the storms hit and formed a broad line of storms that looked like a military defensive formation trying to keep our plane out of Orlando. After an hour or so the storms passed and our plane got out. We had been waiting near the check in counter in case it got canceled so we could quickly re-book. We got through security and thought we were in the clear.

While at the gate we started looking out the window and seeing lightning and more clouds. We then heard a gate agent mention to another flight to board quickly since weather is heading our way. I checked the weather and another military defensive position around Orlando with Thunderstorms had set up. Our plane found a way in but it caused much more delay. Our gate agent was helping passengers connecting in Houston that might miss their flight due to the storms and telling us there might be more weather delays. We did finally get off the ground and flew through the thunderstorms to make it home two days later than we were supposed to and much more exhausted than before.

State of Summer Travel 2023

For me personally living in Texas I have never cared for summer much with the high heat, thunderstorms and hurricanes. In today’s world though summer has become a travel nightmare in many cases. Its not all the time but there are often issues. In places like Phoenix the extreme heat can cause delays and cancelations when planes can’t get off the ground. The bigger issue is thunderstorms hitting many major airports often in the summer causing major delays and cancelations. This trip was an example of that with storms hitting New York, San Juan, Nashville and Orlando (yes its normal for Orlando). I have never seen such poor weather conditions when traveling as I have in the past couple summers. I have to believe this is related to climate change but I won’t get into that political issue here. I can tell you next summer we are going to travel less due to severe storms, and the much higher expenses. I think honestly summer is a time to stay closer to home in general since the chances of a story like ours is much higher due to poor weather conditions, a stretched FAA and stretched airline crews. Thankfully we are taking off the rest of the summer from air travel so I am hoping for a better fall and winter when it comes to better travel experiences.